Trip to the Government Home

Sunday, 29 June 2008, Chennai.

This Sunday started like any normal Sunday, with just a simple plan of making it to Dasavatharam (a Tamil movie) with Deep (my sister), my aunt (my mom's sister), Arun (my cousin) and his wife. Lazed around this morning, and made it on time for the 11 am show which unfortunately was delayed by an hour. Used this time to grab a Pepsi and a game at the gaming zone at the Abirami mall. We then watched the Dasavatharam extravaganza (even though it was my second time, I enjoyed it like any first timer). It was after this movie, that I took an unexpected walk.

It was my aunt's suggestion to park my car in her office premises (Goverment Home for Girls) right next to the Abirami theatre. My aunt wanted to show us her office and the premises she and my mom grew up in. As I walked into the gate, I realised it wasn't my first entry to this gate, and the last time I walked in was the fateful day of Feb 17th, 1997, the day that changed my life. I had come here from the hospital to pick my aunt but it was little too late, as she had already left for home. That instant just flashed and here I was walking into the same gate 11 years later. But as I walked in, I realised that in a few minutes I would be traversing 40 years back.

This "Government Home for Girls" is a wing of the "Center for Social Defence" a State Government entity. It is meant for girls who fall into the categories of Orphans, Economically Backward or Minor girls serving some kind of law offence. My grandma admitted my mom and my aunt to this Home under the category of Economically Backward kids. Understandably so, since these girls were the younger ones among a family of 6 girls and a boy.

As I walked into the gate, I felt an unusual aura, more of an emotional one. I was actually seeing the buildings and spaces my mom lived the 10 + years of her life. My aunt first showed me the room where they lived when they initially joined the home. This campus actually hasn't changed much in the last 40 years except that a pond has been covered by rubbles, a dormitory demolished and a new Computer Science block been installed. The door creak still remains the same, the windows are still the same and the walls haven't changed much either expect for a few coats of paint on them. I remember my mom telling me about the rigorous routine in the campus, where their day started at 5 in the morning and went on till 9 in the night. The toughest part was to carry water in huge vessels every morning to water the plants about 50 meters away. The kitchen was shabby, well, what more can we expect from a poorly maintained government home. I saw the present day little girls running around very ordinarily dressed. My mom wouldn't have been much different those days, a shabbily dressed little girl. My mom was average in her studies, and it seems she and my aunt used to go across the pond and study under a tree not to get disturbed by their peers. As we walked further, we saw play areas with volley ball poles erected which have always been existing here. I also noticed an overflowing tank because of a faulty tap. Thought to myself, if such taps existed 40 years back, my mom's mornings would have been much better eliminating the need to carry the water this far. Aunt showed us the rooms where my mom and her spent the latter part of their schooling. This is where I thought my mom spent the most time of her grown-up childhood days. 

Living in this home, I know what part of childhood she missed out on. My eyes were wet from the time I walked into the campus until I walked out of it. I could actually correlate now, why she was a mom who never got tired of her daily chores and always had something to do for us. This was probably the reason she gave my sister and me wonderful memories. She was always devoid of it herself and I felt she re-lived her childhood days through us. Well, the second most time she spent outside her married life was at this home.